LONDON LIFE & EVENTS · SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2026
By Ken Small · Ken Small Real Estate Team · London & surrounding Southwestern Ontario
For one weekend in September, London unlocks the buildings you normally drive past. A cathedral. A house from the 1830s on Ridout. A hangar full of jets. A mosque. A police station. Forty of them, and every one is free.
This is the 25th year. Here is everything you need to plan the weekend without opening another tab.
THE SHORT VERSION
- Doors Open London 2026 ran Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20.
- Free. Forty sites. No ticket, no registration for the weekend itself.
- The theme is “Cheers to Years: Celebrating 25 Years Together” – it’s the 25th annual.
- Sunday is the short day. Only five sites are Sunday-only, and two close by 2 p.m.
- Free downtown parking exists. Two hours free at Saturday on-street meters, and the HONK app promo code CORE gets you two more.
- Nuit Blanche takes over Dundas Street the same Saturday night, 7 p.m. to midnight.
- You cannot see forty sites in two days. Pick six. We’ll show you which six.
Contents
- When Doors Open London 2026 ran, and what it cost
- The six we’d pick
- All 40 Doors Open London sites: addresses and hours
- How to park downtown for free that weekend
- Three routes that actually work
- What time should you go?
- Which sites are accessible, and which have rules
- What else was on in London that same weekend
- What a real estate agent notices at Doors Open
- Common questions
When Doors Open London 2026 ran, and what it cost
Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20, 2026.
It is free. Every site on the list opens its doors at no charge. There is no wristband, no ticket, no sign-up for the weekend itself.
Two exceptions worth knowing:
- Doors Open London Appreciation Day – Friday, September 18 at 1 p.m., Canada Life auditorium. This one has limited capacity and needs a ticket. Register here (opens in a new tab).
- London Children’s Museum asks visitors to register in advance. Walk-ins are accepted, but only up to capacity.
The event is run by the London Heritage Council, and 2026 marks 25 years. Their words: “Cheers to Years: Celebrating 25 Years Together.”
The six we’d pick
Forty sites is a list, not a plan. If you only get to six, make it these six. They are spread across both days and across the city. Every one has something the others do not.
The full forty are below this section, with addresses and hours.
Each one has its full write-up further down, with hours, access notes and a link to the site’s own page.
All 40 Doors Open London sites: addresses and hours
Every one of the forty sites has its own write-up below. What it is, what is on, and what to know before you go. Jump straight to one, or read the day you can go.
Open BOTH days (Saturday 19 + Sunday 20)
1st Hussars Museum
This is the smallest room on the list, and the one most likely to turn you away. Only 29 people are allowed inside at a time. Go before noon on Saturday. Later than that and you are waiting on Dundas Street for someone to leave.
427 Wing
427 Wing got its charter in 1950 and belongs to the Air Force Association of Canada. Its building sits on the London airport grounds and went up in 1939 as an airmen’s canteen. The Wing shares the Crumlin site with two other Doors Open stops, so one drive covers three.
Banting House National Historic Site
This is the house where Frederick Banting lived, and it is billed as the birthplace of insulin. Diabetes Canada runs it. Exhibits include Banting as an artist and a talking statue that tells the story in his own words. Normal admission is $9 for an adult, so a free weekend is the cheap way in.
Brick Street Cemetery
Burials here go back to at least 1819. The surnames on the stones are now London street names: Griffith, Topping, Teeple, Jarvis, Dale, Norton, Trowbridge and Nixon. Ten people who fought in the War of 1812 are buried here, and their stones are marked with flags. The Trustees of Mount Zion United Church own it.
Fanshawe Pioneer Village
This is the one site worth a dedicated drive. It sits inside Fanshawe Conservation Area, and it is bigger than any downtown stop. Do not squeeze it between two others. A phone searching the name can send you to the wrong address, so read the entrance note below.
Graham Arboretum
Ernie Graham started this in 1926 when he was Parks Superintendent. It holds more than 300 trees across at least 75 species. Some are over 80 years old. The City says a few are the largest of their kind in any Ontario garden. Eighteen trees have signs that explain them.
HDR Architecture Associates
This is not a museum. It is a working architecture and engineering office that opens its doors for two days a year. You are seeing how a design practice actually runs. That is a rarer look than most buildings on this list.
Jet Aircraft Museum
The collection is jets, not propellers. It includes two Canadair CT-133 Silver Stars and a BAC Jet Provost. There is also a Hawker Hunter, a CF-101 Voodoo and a CT-114 Tutor. Normal opening is only Thursday to Saturday, so a Sunday visit is a Doors Open bonus.
London Amateur Radio Club
The club says it was founded in 1920. That would make it one of the oldest amateur radio clubs in Canada. It has over 150 members and runs licence courses. The club station is at the Crumlin site, sharing an address with the Secrets of Radar Museum.
London Fire Station 4
The City gave Fire Hall No. 4 heritage protection by by-law in 2017. A working fire hall is rare on this list. The thing being shown is still doing its job.
London Muslim Mosque
The effort started in the 1950s and the doors opened in 1964. The mosque describes itself as the first in Ontario and the second in Canada. Inside there are prayer halls, a library, a gymnasium, and upper and lower halls. It says its doors are always open, Muslim or not.
Museum London
Museum London sits where Dundas Place meets Ridout Street. It is the easiest place to start a downtown day. Park once, and eight more sites are on foot from its front door. One catch: it opens at 11. Twenty-four of the forty sites open at 10.
Royal Canadian Regiment Museum
The museum sits on the second floor of the west wing of Wolseley Barracks. The space matches the 1886 floor plans. The barracks went up between 1886 and 1888 and is a national historic site. The museum opened for good in 1953. It never charges admission.
St. Paul’s Cathedral
This is the Anglican cathedral of the Diocese of Huron and it sits in the middle of the downtown walk. It is the natural place to finish Saturday, because the pop-up theatre runs late in the afternoon.
The Secrets of Radar Museum
The museum says it is the only one in Canada devoted to radar history. It honours the Canadians who served in radar in the Second World War. Their work stayed secret for roughly fifty years. The museum holds exhibits, a research archive, oral histories from veterans, photos and artifacts.
Saturday, September 19 ONLY
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
This is a federal research centre, established in 1951. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada runs twenty of them across the country. It has containment-level greenhouses on site. It is closed to the public the rest of the year, which is the whole reason to go.
City Hall
You can walk into City Hall any working day, but not into the rooms where the decisions happen. The Council Chambers seat 90, with room for another 90 in the public gallery. There are four committee rooms besides.
Collège Boréal
Collège Boréal’s London site runs continuing education, adult upgrading and job services, and helps newcomers settle. Everything here is delivered in French.
Don Wright Faculty of Music
The faculty fills two buildings joined by a barrier-free corridor. Between them sit three performance rooms: the Paul Davenport Theatre, von Kuster Hall and the Moscovich Recital Hall. There are also a percussion studio, an early music studio and an electroacoustic lab.
Eldon House
Eldon House is two minutes north of Museum London. That makes it the natural second stop, and the two together are the reason the downtown walk works. Watch the clock here. It opens at noon and closes at 4:30, the narrowest window of any downtown site.
Elmwood Lawn Bowling Club
The club was founded in 1911. On site there are two greens with eight rinks each, plus a clubhouse with a kitchen and washrooms. It is a private non-profit, run by its members. Most people have walked past it without knowing it is there.
First-St. Andrew’s United Church
This church family is over 190 years old. It sits in the middle of downtown. It is on the Route 1 walk, between City Hall and St. Paul’s, so it costs you almost nothing to add.
Forest City Irish Fest
This is the odd one on the list, because it is a festival rather than a building. Admission is free. It runs on The Green in Wortley Village. The programming also spills into Hyland Cinema, Landon Library, the Wortley Road House and the Old South Village Pub. It is their first year.
Heritage London Foundation at the Court House
The building here is the Middlesex County Court House. John Ewart designed it, and it went up between 1827 and 1829. It is three storeys, with Gothic details, eight-sided corner towers and tall lancet windows. The brick was parged and scored to look like stone. Heritage London Foundation runs the tours.
Indigenous Fellowship of Hamilton Road
The Fellowship is also known as Mushkeeki Gitigan. In its own words, it is a place where urban elders and grandparents pass on their culture. That happens in private, or in ceremony. It ran the longest hours of any site that weekend, from late morning to 10 at night.
Labatt Memorial Park
The grounds date to 1877, when they were called Tecumseh Park. They are billed as the world’s oldest baseball grounds still in use. A normal tour is $10 and covers the grandstand, dugout, press box and the 1937 Roy McKay Clubhouse. It is the home field of the London Majors.
London Police Service
Headquarters is open for walk-ins most of the year, but not the parts you want to see. Doors Open is the day the rest of it opens.
London Public Library, Central Branch
Central holds more than books. There is Wolf Performance Hall, with 369 seats. There is the London Room for city history, and the Rotary Reading Garden. And there are The Labs: an audio recording studio, a media lab, 3D printing, Cricut machines and sewing equipment.
My Sisters’ Place
This is a drop-in centre supporting people who identify as women, run by CMHA Thames Valley. It is open to its community almost every day of the year. Opening it to the public for one morning is a different thing, and it asks something of you in return.
Nuit Blanche London
Nuit Blanche is run by the London Society of Architects and it takes over Dundas Street after dark. The City lists this year’s theme as This Is Not a Landmark. It is the natural end to a Saturday that started at Museum London, because it happens on the same street.
Rising Moon Bellydance
A belly dance school that teaches beginner and intermediate classes. The studio sits inside the Ontario Speech and Language Clinic at Northridge Plaza. Look between the bakery and the hobby store. That is why you have never noticed it.
Saint James Westminster and Brassroots
Build a Saturday morning around this one if you like live music. There is music six times between 11:30 and 3:30, so you can arrive almost any time and catch a set. It is also the first stop on the Old South walk, which is the prettiest walk of the weekend.
Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada, London
The London branch is named for Kniahynia Ol’ha and is based at the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox parish. Tours are capped at around fifteen people, so this is one to arrive early for rather than drop in on.
Village SoHo
Village SoHo is a mixed-income housing project of nearly 700 apartments going up on the former Victoria Hospital lands. Market, affordable and supportive housing sit in the same development. 373 Hill Street is the Chelsea Green building, with 81 units, 30 of them affordable.
Western Centre for Brain and Mind
The centre is inside the Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, which opened in April 2018. Its core lab holds an audiodome, EEG and sound booths, and eye tracking. There is also a gait lab, robot arm rooms, a sleep lab and a TMS system. You will not get into a working neuroscience lab any other weekend.
Sunday, September 20 ONLY
Canada Life
London Life was founded here in 1874 and became part of Canada Life in 2020. The company’s own history says the Dufferin Avenue premises were built as the business grew. There was an auditorium, and a bowling alley for staff. Canada Life calls the site a London landmark.
Grosvenor Lodge
Grosvenor Lodge is a Victorian manor run by Heritage London Foundation as an event venue. The rest of the year it is booked for weddings, corporate events and celebrations of life. You cannot simply walk in.
London Children’s Museum
Sunday is the short day, and this site gives you the most of it. It opens at 9:30, earlier than anything else on Sunday, and runs until 5. Two things people get wrong here. The listing asks you to register ahead, so do not just turn up. And it is on the fourth floor.
Urban Roots London
Urban Roots is a non-profit urban farm. It splits its harvest three ways. Some is donated to partners every Monday in season. Most is sold below market rate, through pop-up markets and farmgate sales. The rest goes at full price to restaurants and food-box members.
Woodland Cemetery Mausoleum and Crematorium
Woodland was established in 1879 and is owned by St. Paul’s Cathedral, though it is non-denominational. It started at 56 acres and has grown to just under 100, running along the Thames, with over 50,000 burials. Deer, owls and red-tailed hawks live on the grounds.
PRO TIP: Three sites share one parking lot on Crumlin Sideroad – 427 Wing, The Secrets of Radar Museum, and the London Amateur Radio Club are all at 2155 / 2155b. The Jet Aircraft Museum is minutes away on Aviation Lane. That’s four sites for one drive and one parking spot.
How to park downtown for free that weekend
Most of the best sites are within a ten-minute walk of each other downtown. Here is how to park for nothing.
Doing Nuit Blanche after? Dundas Place parking is limited during the event. The flat $9.00 after-6 p.m. rate at Museum London’s Lot #19 is the simple answer, and you’re standing at the west end of the installations.
Rates confirmed on the City of London parking page on August 28, 2026. Check the meter – rates change.
Three routes that actually work
Forty sites is not a plan. These are.
Route 1 – The downtown walk (Saturday, roughly 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
Everything here is walking distance. Park once.
- Museum London, 421 Ridout N – start at 11 when it opens
- Eldon House, 481 Ridout N – opens 12, closes 4:30. Two minutes north
- Heritage London Foundation, 399 Ridout N – tours have small groups, so time this one
- 1st Hussars Museum, 1 Dundas – only 29 people inside at once
- Central Library, 251 Dundas – music at 2 p.m.
- City Hall, 300 Dufferin – closes at 3, so don’t leave it last
- First-St. Andrew’s United Church, 350 Queens
- St. Paul’s Cathedral, 472 Richmond – pop-up theatre at 4 p.m.
Then eat, and come back for Nuit Blanche at 7 p.m. on the same street.
Route 2 – Old South (Saturday, half a day)
The prettiest walk of the weekend, and the reason people fall in love with Wortley Village and Old South.
- Saint James Westminster & Brassroots, 115 Askin – live music roughly every 45 minutes from 11:30
- Village SoHo, 373 Hill – tours at 10, 1 and 3
- Forest City Irish Fest, Wortley Green – open until 7 p.m., bring a chair
- Brick Street Cemetery, 370 Commissioners W – the ground is uneven, wear real shoes
Route 3 – The Crumlin four-in-one (either day, one drive)
For anyone with a kid who likes machines.
- 427 Wing, 2155 Crumlin Sideroad – 12 to 4
- The Secrets of Radar Museum, 2155b Crumlin – 10 to 4
- London Amateur Radio Club, 2155b Crumlin – Sat 10-4, Sun 12-4
- Jet Aircraft Museum, 2465 Aviation Lane #2 – 10 to 4
The Sunday plan
Sunday is short. Do the Sunday-only sites first or you’ll miss them.
Urban Roots closes at 1 p.m. Woodland Cemetery closes at 2 p.m. Start there. Then Grosvenor Lodge on Western Road, then Canada Life downtown, which runs until 5.
What time should you go?
Here’s the reality: the good stuff has small rooms.
- Go before noon on Saturday. Four sites have hard capacity limits and fill as the day warms. 1st Hussars (29 people). The Western Centre for Brain & Mind (groups of 10). The Ukrainian Women’s Association (about 15 per group). Heritage London Foundation.
- Earliest opening all weekend: My Sisters’ Place at 9 a.m. Saturday, and the London Children’s Museum at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
- The 3 p.m. cliff: City Hall, London Police Service, My Sisters’ Place and London Fire Station 4 all close at 3.
- Sunday’s window is genuinely narrow. Two of the five Sunday-only sites are done by 2 p.m.
Which sites are accessible, and which have rules
Not every heritage building can be. Here’s the straight version.
Fully accessible: 427 Wing · Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada · Canada Life · City Hall · Collège Boréal · Don Wright Faculty of Music · First-St. Andrew’s.
Forest City Irish Fest · Labatt Memorial Park · London Muslim Mosque (elevator to all levels) · London Public Library · Rising Moon Bellydance · Royal Canadian Regiment Museum · Western Centre for Brain & Mind.
Partly accessible – first floor only: Eldon House · Grosvenor Lodge (one step, no ramp) · Heritage London Foundation · My Sisters’ Place · St. Paul’s Cathedral (no basement or second-level access).
Hard ground: Brick Street Cemetery and Graham Arboretum are grass and uneven terrain. Elmwood Lawn Bowling Club has a clubhouse ramp, but the greens aren’t accessible.
Rules to know before you arrive:
- Royal Canadian Regiment Museum – bring government photo ID. It’s an active military site.
- London Muslim Mosque – shoes off in prayer areas, shoulders and legs covered. Photos fine; video needs permission.
- Eldon House – no flash photography, and don’t photograph staff or volunteers without asking.
- My Sisters’ Place – photograph the building, not the people.
- Woodland Cemetery – blur names on memorials if you share photos.
What else was on in London that same weekend
September 19-20 is one of the busiest weekends on London’s calendar. Plan around it.
- Western Fair’s final weekend. The fair ran September 11-20, so its last two days were Doors Open days. Traffic near the fairgrounds and Old East was heavy. We wrote the full cost-and-parking breakdown here: Western Fair 2026: what it really costs and how to skip the parking.
- Nuit Blanche, Saturday 7 p.m. to midnight, Dundas between Wellington and Ridout. Ten installations, live jazz, galleries open late.
- London Reggae Fest, Saturday and Sunday at Covent Garden Market. Free.
- Ontario Culture Days ran September 18 to October 4, with London as a Festival Hub.
More of these in our London Life & Events section.
THE HONEST TAKEAWAY
You are not going to see forty sites. Stop trying.
Two days, and most sites are open six hours or fewer. Realistically you’ll get six to eight, and that’s a good weekend.
Three things nobody tells you:
- Saturday is the real day. Twenty of the forty sites are Saturday-only. Sunday has five exclusives and a short clock.
- The Crumlin cluster needs a car. Four excellent sites, no realistic walk, no easy weekend bus.
- Choose one neighbourhood, not one list. People who try to cross the city spend the day in traffic. People who walk one area see twice as much.
Doors Open isn’t a checklist. It’s a good excuse to look at your own city like a stranger.
What a real estate agent notices at Doors Open
I’ll be honest about my bias. I sell houses in this city, so I walk into these buildings looking at different things than most people.
Here’s what I notice every year: the neighbourhoods with the most sites are the ones people ask me about the most. Old South. Old North. Downtown. Not a coincidence. When a neighbourhood has buildings worth opening, it usually has streets worth living on.
A weekend of walking through London’s rooms can make you curious about the ones actually for sale.
We’ve written honest guides to the areas. What they cost, what’s annoying about them, who they suit:
Common questions about Doors Open London 2026
Is Doors Open London free?
Yes. All 40 sites are free on September 19 and 20. No ticket and no registration for the weekend itself. The separate Appreciation Day on Friday, September 18 requires a ticket, and the London Children’s Museum asks you to register in advance.
What dates is Doors Open London 2026?
Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20, 2026. It’s the 25th annual event.
How many sites are there?
Forty. Fifteen are open both days, twenty are Saturday-only, and five are Sunday-only.
Do I need to register or book a spot?
Not for most of them. The London Children’s Museum asks you to register ahead. Beyond that, some sites have capacity limits and run tours in small groups. The 1st Hussars Museum holds 29 visitors at a time. The Western Centre for Brain & Mind tours in groups of 10. Arrive early for those.
Where do I park downtown?
On-street meters in the Downtown, Richmond Row, Midtown and Old East Village areas give you two free hours on Saturday with no code. The HONK app promo code CORE adds two more free hours in the Core Area. Dundas Place is free and unrestricted all day Sunday.
Is it good for kids?
Yes. Scavenger hunts run at 427 Wing, Banting House, Eldon House and Village SoHo. There’s a Kids’ Zone at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a design competition for kids at HDR Architecture, Victorian lawn games at Eldon House, and the London Children’s Museum opens Sunday at 9:30 a.m.
Is it accessible?
Many sites are fully accessible, including City Hall, Canada Life, the Central Library and the London Muslim Mosque. Several heritage buildings are first-floor only – Eldon House, Grosvenor Lodge, Heritage London Foundation and St. Paul’s Cathedral among them. Brick Street Cemetery and Graham Arboretum are uneven ground.
What should I bring?
Comfortable shoes, water, and government photo ID if you’re visiting the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum. A lawn chair for Forest City Irish Fest or the Indigenous Fellowship evening. Modest dress for the mosque.
About Ken Small
Ken Small leads the Ken Small Real Estate Team in London and surrounding Southwestern Ontario. We answer the questions most agents avoid – what it costs, what goes wrong, and who we’re not right for. More about how we work.
Related reading
- Western Fair 2026: what it really costs, how to skip the parking, and what’s worth your time
- Wortley Village & Old South – neighbourhood guide
- Old North – neighbourhood guide
- All London, Ontario neighbourhoods
- More London life & events
Sources
Site list, hours and access notes: London Heritage Council – Doors Open London and the official 2026 brochure (PDF). Parking rates: City of London. All details confirmed August 28, 2026. Hours can change – the Heritage Council can be reached at 519-930-2140.
Last updated: August 28, 2026
More London, the same idea.
If this one was useful, these are the others we keep current: the Western Fair guide, fall in London, and the John E. Pearce trails. They all live on Living in London.
Ken Small Real Estate Team · Century 21 First Canadian Corp., Brokerage · 420 York Street, London ON N6B 1R1 · (226) 271-1140. Event details are the organiser’s and can change. Confirm with London Heritage before you go. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract.
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